Adani Group, led by Gautam Adani, is set to start the world’s largest single-location copper manufacturing plant at Mundra in Gujarat. By March-end, its first phase operation will start and full-scale 1 million tonnes capacity by March 2029 (FY29), according to Yesterday’s media report.
Kutch Copper Ltd (KCL), a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), with the capacity to produce refined copper with 1 million tonnes per annum, is to be completed in two phases. For the first phase, with a capacity of 0.5 million tonnes per annum, Adani Group achieved financial closure through a syndicated club loan in June 2022. 
Adani Group’s Aim
As per a media report, Adani Group aims to become a global leader in the copper business by leveraging its strong position in resource trading, renewable power, logistics, and infrastructure. “Adani Group aims to be the world’s largest copper smelting complex by 2030,” the report added.
India’s per capita consumption of copper is around 0.4 kg compared to the global average of 3.2 kg. In India, Copper is the third most used industrial metal after steel and aluminum. Adani’s $ 1.2 billion plant will help cut India’s dependence on imports, as demand for copper is increasing in fast-growing industries like renewable energy, telecommunication, and electric vehicles. Notably, Charging infrastructure, solar photovoltaics (PV), wind, and batteries, all require copper for energy transition. 
This move by Adani Group aligns with India’s drive towards clean energy systems, electric vehicles, and associated applications which will be responsible for doubling the demand for copper by 2030. Adani Group is investing heavily in energy transition, for which copper is essential.
Kutch Copper Ltd
Kutch Copper Ltd will produce copper cathodes and rods as well as other valuable by-products like gold, platinum, silver, and selenium. Along with this, it will produce other by-products such as sulphuric acid, a key raw material for manufacturing phosphatic fertilizers, specialty chemicals, detergents, pharmaceuticals, papers, sugar bleaching, and water treatment. India reportedly produces 2 million tonnes of sulphuric acid. Thus, the plant will satisfy this demand.
In the first phase, it will produce 500,000 tonnes of refined copper per annum with 25 tonnes of gold, 1.5 million tonnes of sulphuric acid, 250 tonnes of silver, and 250,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid as by-products. According to a report, Kutch Copper will be one of the most efficient copper smelting in India and will lower greenhouse gas emissions.
India’s Copper Demand
India’s imports have increased in the past five years but domestic production has been unable to meet the demand. For FY 23 (April 2022- March 2023 fiscal), India imported 1,81,000 tonnes of copper and exported only 30,000 tonnes, which is lower than Covid pandemic period. As per the report, India consumed 7,50,000 tonnes of copper in FY23. The demand is expected to increase to 1.7 million tonnes by 2027. In the current decade, Global demand for copper from solar photovoltaic installation alone is estimated to double to 2.25 million tonnes.
